The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is warning patrons about online ticket scams

People who want to go to the ballet in Winnipeg are asked to buy tickets directly from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) box office after having to pay about $10,000.

According to Jocelyn Unrau, director of marketing and communications for RWB, the accounting and database teams found a record number of ticket cancellations for the recent Nutcracker game.

He said the tickets were purchased by fraudsters using stolen credit cards and then resold on third-party websites.

“So when unsuspecting people got their credit card statements in January, they saw random payments for the ballet,” Unrau said. “So they went to the credit card company to get a refund, but the credit card company still had to pay us those tickets.”

He said it's not yet a big problem in Winnipeg, but arts and culture organizations across the country are starting to see an increase in these types of scams.

To combat the problem in Winnipeg, he recommends people buy tickets locally instead of through third-party sellers.

“Do a little more work when shopping online. Third-party sellers often appear first, second, or third in your Google searches. So scroll down a bit and see if you can find the original organization website and use it to purchase tickets.

RWB is also taking additional measures to help people who have bought fake tickets. Unrau said they are taking extra seats to make sure people attend the shows.

“But again, we need to raise awareness. We're taking a hard look at our security protocols and things like that to change this story.”

If Winnipeggers want to buy tickets, Unrau said they should do so on the RWB website.